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cyan · cool

#03df9c

a dark, electric cyan · cool · closest name: Medium Spring Green

Token name suggestion: Dusk Teal

RGB
3, 223, 156
HSL
162°, 97%, 44%
CMYK
99, 0, 30, 13
Luminance
0.5520

#03df9c is a dark electric cyan, 162° on the wheel and 80/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.04:1). As text it scores 1.74:1 on white — use #02845D instead. Nearest name is Medium Spring Green, nearest Tailwind family is emerald.

hsl(162 97% 44%)rgb(3 223 156)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #03df9c is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#03df9c
Hue
162°
cyan
Saturation
97%
electric
Lightness
44%
dark
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
70%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5520
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
80/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
12.04:1
Closest name
Medium Spring Green
ΔE2000 7.1
Chroma
64.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.799
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
emerald
500 · ΔE 9.5
Web-safe
#00CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue162° of 360°
Saturation97%
Lightness44%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #03df9c.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool80% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red0%
Green96%
Blue4%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#03df9c
HEX (8-digit)#03df9cff
RGBrgb(3, 223, 156)
RGBArgba(3, 223, 156, 1)
HSLhsl(162, 97%, 44%)
HSV / HSBhsv(162, 99%, 87%)
HWBhwb(162 1% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(99%, 0%, 30%, 13%)
LABlab(79.2 -60.8 20.4)
LCHlch(79.2 64.1 161.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.799 0.173 162.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(32.42, 55.19, 40.39)
Decimal253852
Display P3color(display-p3 0.012 0.875 0.612)
Web-safe#00CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #03df9c;
background-color: #03df9c;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #03df9c;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#03df9c] bg-[#03df9c]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #03df9c;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.012, green: 0.875, blue: 0.612)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.012, green: 0.875, blue: 0.612, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#03DF9C</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF03DF9C)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF03DF9C)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(156, 223, 3)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(3, 223, 156)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(3, 223, 156)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 3, 223, 156)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0118f, 0.8745f, 0.6118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{3,223,156}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #03df9c 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #03df9c 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#027E58, #D3EEE6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #03df9c h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F1FDFA;
  --brand-100: #E4FCF4;
  --brand-200: #C1FBE9;
  --brand-300: #90FDDC;
  --brand-400: #59FDCB;
  --brand-500: #22FCB9;
  --brand-600: #03df9c;
  --brand-700: #03C98D;
  --brand-800: #02A171;
  --brand-900: #067453;
  --brand-950: #044834;
  --brand: #03df9c;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C0EDDF;
  --brand-hover: #03BC83;
  --brand-pressed: #02986B;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #14241F;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1FDFA',
        100: '#E4FCF4',
        200: '#C1FBE9',
        300: '#90FDDC',
        400: '#59FDCB',
        500: '#22FCB9',
        600: '#03df9c',
        700: '#03C98D',
        800: '#02A171',
        900: '#067453',
        950: '#044834',
        DEFAULT: '#03df9c',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1FDFA,
  '100': #E4FCF4,
  '200': #C1FBE9,
  '300': #90FDDC,
  '400': #59FDCB,
  '500': #22FCB9,
  '600': #03df9c,
  '700': #03C98D,
  '800': #02A171,
  '900': #067453,
  '950': #044834,
);
$brand-base: #03df9c;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1FDFA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E4FCF4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C1FBE9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#90FDDC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#59FDCB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#22FCB9", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#03df9c", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#03C98D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#02A171", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#067453", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#044834", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #03df9c · 12.04:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.74:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.04:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #03df9c as text scores 1.74:1 on white and 12.04:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #027E58 at 2.92:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#02845D · 4.71:1
AA on white−18% L
#02845D
The quick fox
#016647 · 7.02:1
AAA on white−24% L
#016647
The quick fox
#03df9c · 12.04:1
AA on blackalready passes
#03df9c
The quick fox
#03df9c · 12.04:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#03df9c

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #02A875 is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#03df9c on white: 1.74:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#03df9c on black: 12.04:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #03df9c as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #03df9c.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.74:1AaAa
Slate 501.67:1AaAa
Slate 1001.59:1AaAa
Slate 2001.41:1AaAa
Slate 3001.17:1AaAa
Slate 4001.47:1AaAa
Slate 5002.73:1AaAa
Slate 6004.34:1AaAa
Slate 7005.94:1AaAa
Slate 8008.39:1AaAa
Slate 90010.23:1AaAa
Black12.04:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #DBCD98
deuteranopia · #C5BEA0
tritanopia · #00DFCD

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #03df9c is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F1FDFA
#E4FCF4
#C1FBE9
#90FDDC
#59FDCB
#22FCB9
#03df9c
#03C98D
#02A171
#067453
#044834
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F1FDFADarkest = 950 · #044834Text step on white = 900
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.043 162.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.069 162.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.104 162.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.135 162.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.159 162.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.173 162.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.173 162.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.163 162.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.146 162.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.121 162.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.095 162.7);
}

Colors that work with #03df9c

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F4FAF9
Tinted page background
Border#C0EDDF
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B82
Captions on the surface
Accent#E2007D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#027E58
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6FFF7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#14241F
Dark-mode background
Hover#03BC83
One step down in lightness
Pressed#02986B
Two steps down
Disabled#96BCB0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#00F6AB
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #03df9c

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Black text placed on it
  • Thin strokes and 1px borders — they disappear on light UI
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #027E58
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #02A875

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

cleantechnicalfreshclinical

Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

At high lightness it disappears into white surfaces and thin strokes vanish entirely.

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight56/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#DF0346
Analogous left#03DF2E
Analogous right#03B4DF
Split-complement 1#DF03B4
Split-complement 2#DF2E03
Triadic 1#9C03DF
Triadic 2#DF9C03
Tetradic#2E03DF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°162°

#03df9c sits at 162°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red1.2%
Green87.5%
Blue61.2%
R · 0–255
3
0x03
G · 0–255
223
0xdf
B · 0–255
156
0x9c

CMYK percentages

Cyan98.7%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow30.0%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 141%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#03df9c text on a black background

contrast 12.04:1

Card sample

#03df9c text on a white background

contrast 1.74:1

Card sample

#03df9c on grey

1.59:1

#03df9c on its own surface

1.65:1

#03df9c on its dark surface

9.25:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #03df9c;
Background color
Panel with #03df9c background
background-color: #03df9c;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #03df9c;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(3, 223, 156, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(3, 223, 156, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #03df9c;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #03df9c, #038FDF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #03df9c, #0358DF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #03df9c;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #03df9c;
caret-color: #03df9c;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #03df9c;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6FFF7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #03df9c;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#03df9c 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #03df9c over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(3, 223, 156, 0.5)
rgb(3 223 156 / 50%)
#03df9c80
hsl(162 97% 44% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #03df9c 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#03df9c1a#E6FCF5
20%#03df9c33#CDF9EB
40%#03df9c66#9AF2D7
60%#03df9c99#68ECC4
80%#03df9ccc#35E5B0

Gradients from #03df9c

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #23FCBA, #03df9c 45%, #027E58);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #03df9c, #036CC1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #03df9c, #DF0346);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #41FCC3 0%, #03df9c 45%, #027E58 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAF9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #19FC32 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #05B7FC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #027E58 0%, transparent 65%), #03df9c;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #03df9c

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#03df9c in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
TechnologyTravelHealthcareMedia
Common UI roles
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 12.04:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#03df9c, answered

What color is #03df9c?

#03df9c is a dark electric cyan, closest to Medium Spring Green (ΔE2000 7.1). It sits at 162° on the hue wheel with 97% saturation and 44% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #03df9c?

rgb(3, 223, 156) — 3 red, 223 green and 156 blue out of 255, or 1.2% / 87.5% / 61.2% by channel.

What is #03df9c in HSL and HSV?

hsl(162, 97%, 44%) and hsv(162, 99%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #03df9c a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5520 and perceived brightness is 70%, so black text on it reaches 12.04:1.

Should I use black or white text on #03df9c?

Black. It scores 12.04:1 against #03df9c, versus 1.74:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #03df9c accessible on a white background?

#03df9c on white scores 1.74:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #02845D to reach 4.5:1, or #016647 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #03df9c?

#DF0346 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DF03B4 and #DF2E03, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #03df9c?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C0EDDF for borders, #4B9B82 for secondary text, #E2007D as an accent and #027E58 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #03DF2E and #03B4DF stays calm, while #DF0346 is the loudest partner.

What is #03df9c in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(99%, 0%, 30%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #03df9c warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 80 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #03DF4B; nudged cooler, #01D3E1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #03df9c?

The emerald family — its 500 step is #10b981, ΔE2000 9.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #03df9c as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #03df9c in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#03df9c] or text-[#03df9c], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #03df9c with 50% opacity?

rgba(3, 223, 156, 0.5), or #03df9c80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #81EFCE; over black, #02704E.

Is #03df9c a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #00CC99, ΔE2000 5.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #03df9c mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #03df9c?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #23FCBA, #03df9c 45%, #027E58). For more colour, a short hue run to #036CC1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #03df9c in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #03df9c at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.